As you know, bilingualism exists at the federal level and in a more comprehensive way in New Brunswick. As for the other Canadian provinces, a certain form of bilingualism exists in Quebec and Manitoba under section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and section 23 of the Manitoba Act, 1870, respectively. What is more, section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to every province in Canada. However, subsection 23(1)(a) will not apply to Quebec until that province accepts that provision.
In other words, like Quebec, which chose to have just one official language, French, most Canadian provinces make their own choices on linguistic matters. However, that is no reason to stop promoting bilingualism across Canada, including in several sectors of the federal government. We must promote bilingualism. We have seen some positive signs, including the fact that immersion schools are bursting at the seams and there is demand for more immersion schools, or the fact that every province except British Columbia, I believe, has legislation on receiving services in French. That is significant progress across the country.
The other good news is that the Official Languages Act is much better perceived these days than it was when it was passed and it is accepted by the vast majority of Canadians. The bad news is the gradual decline in the demographic weight of francophones in Canada.
I would like to briefly come back to immigration, Mr. Chair. It would indeed be important for the commissioner to be responsible for maintaining the demographic weight of official language minority communities across the country. It would also be important for the Government of Canada to make an extra effort to achieve the immigration targets that have been set. This would help mitigate or counter the loss of demographic weight, which is the biggest threat for francophones in Canada, which, unfortunately, is an argument that plays against Canadian federalism.